When multi-wire sheathed cables containing twisted wires are processed, e.g., to strip the sheath and wire insulation and to then crimp terminals (contacts) onto the ends of the bare wires, it can be advantageous to know the orientation and/or the angular position and/or the position of the individual (twisted) wires within the still-present sheath (jacket) at a particular position along the longitudinal direction of the sheathed cable. This knowledge of the angular position of the individual wires can be advantageous, for example, to precisely strip the insulation using die blades, to perform an intermediate stripping, to remove grounding structures, such as ground wires, shielding layers (either inside or outside the sheath), mechanical stabilizing fibres or layers, foil, etc., to orient an individual wire or an individual wire group in a machine, etc.
In order to prepare the ends of the individual wires of a sheathed cable, it is known from DE 31 44 281 A1 to first strip the sheath (jacket) and then to mechanically scan the individual-wire ends, which protrude from the sheath, while rotating the sheathed cable, and to maintain a predetermined rotational position. At least one of the individual-wire ends that is still provided with colored insulation is then detected (sensed) by an optical scanning head to determine the color or the lightness (tone) of the insulation. This process is repeated until the specially color-coded insulated conductor is located in a predetermined rotational position.
EP 0 600 415 B1 discloses a device for crimping a cable-end terminal onto a sheathed cable that has distinguishing features printed on its exterior in its longitudinal direction. Before crimping the cable-end terminal, the sheathed cable is held and rotated by a rotating device until the distinguishing features are located in a predetermined rotational orientation. To determine when the predetermined rotational orientation has been reached, an optical sensor is disposed on the rotating device and detects the distinguishing features while the sheathed cable is rotating. The rotation of the sheathed cable is stopped when optical sensor detects that the distinguishing features are located in the predetermined rotational orientation or angular position.
A method for orienting individual wires, which are provided with insulation and protrude from the sheath of a sheathed cable, is known from EP 0 368 073 A2 and its English family member U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,940, wherein the color of the insulation of at least one of the individual wires is detected and the sheathed cable is then rotated about its longitudinal direction until the individual wires assume a predetermined angular position.